I was a former senior manager at KPMG and since 1994 the owner of the Marks Group PC, a 10 person customer relationship management consulting firm based outside Philadelphia. I've written six small-business management books, most recently "The Manufacturer's Book of List" and “In God We Trust, Everyone Else Pays Cash: Simple Lessons From Smart Business People.” Besides Forbes, I daily for The Washington Post and weekly for Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine and the Huffington Post monthly for Philadelphia Magazine. I am an unpaid contributor to Forbes. I make no compensation from the number of people who read what I write here. Follow me on Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In.

12/12/2011 @ 7:25AM790,584 views

If I Were A Poor Black Kid

President Obama gave an excellent speech last week in Kansas about inequality in America.

“This is the defining issue of our time.” He said. “This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. Because what’s at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement.”

He’s right. The spread between rich and poor has gotten wider over the decades. And the opportunities for the 99% have become harder to realize.

The President’s speech got me thinking. My kids are no smarter than similar kids their age from the inner city. My kids have it much easier than their counterparts from West Philadelphia. The world is not fair to those kids mainly because they had the misfortune of being born two miles away into a more difficult part of the world and with a skin color that makes realizing the opportunities that the President spoke about that much harder. This is a fact. In 2011.

I am not a poor black kid. I am a middle aged white guy who comes from a middle class white background. So life was easier for me. But that doesn’t mean that the prospects are impossible for those kids from the inner city. It doesn’t mean that there are no opportunities for them. Or that the 1% control the world and the rest of us have to fight over the scraps left behind. I don’t believe that. I believe that everyone in this country has a chance to succeed. Still. In 2011. Even a poor black kid in West Philadelphia.

It takes brains. It takes hard work. It takes a little luck. And a little help from others. It takes the ability and the know-how to use the resources that are available. Like technology. As a person who sells and has worked with technology all my life I also know this.

If I was a poor black kid I would first and most importantly work to make sure I got the best grades possible. I would make it my #1 priority to be able to read sufficiently. I wouldn’t care if I was a student at the worst public middle school in the worst inner city. Even the worst have their best. And the very best students, even at the worst schools, have more opportunities. Getting good grades is the key to having more options. With good grades you can choose different, better paths. If you do poorly in school, particularly in a lousy school, you’re severely limiting the limited opportunities you have.

And I would use the technology available to me as a student. I know a few school teachers and they tell me that many inner city parents usually have or can afford cheap computers and internet service nowadays. That because (and sadly) it’s oftentimes a necessary thing to keep their kids safe at home than on the streets. And libraries and schools have computers available too. Computers can be purchased cheaply at outlets like TigerDirect and Dell’s Outlet. Professional organizations like accountants and architects often offer used computers from their members, sometimes at no cost at all.

If I was a poor black kid I’d use the free technology available to help me study. I’d become expert at Google Scholar. I’d visit study sites like SparkNotes and CliffsNotes to help me understand books. I’d watch relevant teachings on Academic Earth, TED and the Khan Academy. (I say relevant because some of these lectures may not be related to my work or too advanced for my age. But there are plenty of videos on these sites that are suitable to my studies and would help me stand out.) I would also, when possible, get my books for free at Project Gutenberg and learn how to do research at the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia to help me with my studies.

Is this easy? No it’s not. It’s hard. It takes a special kind of kid to succeed. And to succeed even with these tools is much harder for a black kid from West Philadelphia than a white kid from the suburbs. But it’s not impossible. The tools are there. The technology is there. And the opportunities there.

In Philadelphia, there are nationally recognized magnet schools like Central, Girls High and Masterman. These schools are free. But they are hard to get in to. You need good grades and good test scores. And there are also other good magnet and charter schools in the city. You also need good grades to get into those. In a school system that is so broken these are bright spots. Getting into one of these schools opens up a world of opportunities. More than 90% of the kids that go to Central go on to college. I would use the internet to research each one of these schools so I could find out how I could be admitted. I would find out the names of the admissions people and go to meet with them. If I was a poor black kid I would make it my goal to get into one of these schools.

Or even a private school. Most private schools I know are filled to the brim with the 1%. That’s because these schools are exclusive and expensive, costing anywhere between $20 and $50k per year. But there’s a secret about them. Most have scholarship programs. Most have boards of trustees that want to give opportunities to kids that can’t afford the tuition. Many would provide funding for not only tuition but also for transportation or even boarding. Trust me, they want to show diversity. They want to show smiling, smart kids of many different colors and races on their fundraising brochures. If I was a poor black kid I’d be using technology to research these schools on the internet, too, and making them know that I exist and that I get good grades and want to go to their school.

And once admitted to one of these schools the first person I’d introduce myself to would be the school’s guidance counselor. This is the person who will one day help me go to a college. This is the person who knows everything there is to know about financial aid, grants, minority programs and the like. This is the person who may also know of job programs and co-op learning opportunities that I could participate in. This is the person who could help me get summer employment at a law firm or a business owned by the 1% where I could meet people and show off my stuff.

If I was a poor black kid I would get technical. I would learn software. I would learn how to write code. I would seek out courses in my high school that teaches these skills or figure out where to learn more online. I would study on my own. I would make sure my writing and communication skills stay polished.

Because a poor black kid who gets good grades, has a part time job and becomes proficient with a technical skill will go to college. There is financial aid available. There are programs available. And no matter what he or she majors in that person will have opportunities. They will find jobs in a country of business owners like me who are starved for smart, skilled people. They will succeed.

President Obama was right in his speech last week. The division between rich and poor is a national problem. But the biggest challenge we face isn’t inequality. It’s ignorance. So many kids from West Philadelphia don’t even know these opportunities exist for them. Many come from single-parent families whose mom or dad (or in many cases their grand mom) is working two jobs to survive and are just (understandably) too plain tired to do anything else in the few short hours they’re home. Many have teachers who are overburdened and too stressed to find the time to help every kid that needs it. Many of these kids don’t have the brains to figure this out themselves – like my kids. Except that my kids are just lucky enough to have parents and a well-funded school system around to push them in the right direction.

Technology can help these kids. But only if the kids want to be helped. Yes, there is much inequality. But the opportunity is still there in this country for those that are smart enough to go for it.

Editor’s note — This post has generated an enormous amount of feedback here on Forbes and across the web. Here are a few of those responses:

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Just curious … aren’t there actually more poor white kids or at least just as many? why didn’t Mr. Marks address any comments to them? It’s not like turning away from education is now or ever was a black thing — like lack of opportunity, it goes along with poverty. And prejudice. And believing what you hear on television, like: Things are getting better all the time. Meanwhile, the Rich and the Super Rich have been laughing all the way to the bank … for years.

The main problem I had was that Marks didn’t seem to realize that poverty is a problem that transcends race. Where does poverty come form? Paul Krugman pointed out in a recent column that the incomes of the top 0.1% of all income earners in America went up 400% over the last 30 years — while everyone else got a 27% raise. It’s more difficult to keep that idea out of circulation in the Internet Age — but not impossible. The tax breaks bought and paid for in the halls of Congress — tax breaks that can only be enjoyed by the wealthiest Americans — amount to robbing the rest of us blind. I guess a lot of people still think that’s okay, or that only the robbers can create jobs in America … by exporting capital … to China, for example. Why shouldn’t we try to amend the tax code so that “Neither any American taxpayer nor any organization doing business in America shall pay tax on his or its income at a rate less than the highest rate paid by any American taxpayer” … ? After that, the only argument would be over at what level, exactly the taxpaying onus would kick in this year fo keep the government solvent and retire the debt in an orderly manner. Warren Buffet thinks it is “ridiculous” that he pays tax on his income at half the rate paid by his secretary. You’d think so too — if you had any sense. Or any sense of fair play. Or maybe you should peruse The Tax Evaders Wall of Shame that was published in the Washington Times.

Mr. Marks it goes way deeper than just being a poor black kid — believe me and I wasn’t raised a poor black kid although I am black. I was raised in a middle class home in the suburbs of Chicago. My father was a Pullman Porter that made descent enough money that he could raise 5 kids and my mother didn’t have to work. It’s not you (it ain’t personal Mr. Marks; its just the view and temperament of the whole doggone white community at large. It’s ashamed we (black people) will have to go to their graves with having no great stories to tell about how after the 1965 Voting Rights Act; people really reached out and things did change. But, we’re in America! She has her flaws.

Oh, please!! No one cares about you’re “tough week”. (Excuse the fact that I’m a month late) I refuse to feel bad about your personal attacks when you have blatantly undermined many of the experiences that poor black kids face on a daily basis. I encourage you to re-read this piece that you have written. Try your hardest to understand why people would even be slightly offended. I would like to go out on the limb and say that I believe you are a smart man. I want you to try your hardest, again, to seek out where you could have gone wrong with this piece.

Please do not take this challenge, and do ignore this comment, if you have only written this article to get attention. If that is not the case, then I would also like to challenge you to try and stay with one of these poor black kids for a week. If the opportunities are as plain and clear as make them seem, then I would like for you to write another piece validating your findings.

You have embarrassed yourself, your parents, your company, and the institutions you are affiliated with.

I would, however, like to congratulate you on creating a piece that “gets the people going”. You’ve created a lot of traffic; and I’m sure Forbes would like to keep you on the team for that accomplishment alone. But your ignorance is too much to bare, and there will be an investigation on why you’ve made this choice to purposely ruin your career.

I must say that i do not agree. I am a black female in the middle class and i am also still in high school. One would be surprised with how many kids in just my senior class have to drop out of school to help there parents make next months rent. My senior class started with 625 and is now down to only 524. Studying hard and reading is not effective if you’re not in school and with a high school diploma This kind of perspective is exactly why nothing in this economy changes.

The problem isn’t even the opportunities presented, race, location or anything like that. It’s cultural and it’s a lottery. A huge slap to the face is that some of the gifts people are born with aren’t technical and therefore they make inferior serfs to whomever is writing checks these days. (Read: 1%) As many had stated many parents aren’t aware of these programs, a lot of parents are under the assumption that ANY college education leads to job opportunities and many parents just don’t CARE. They tend to have their own problems. I have a friend who’s mother has a super well paying job at town hall and he has a degree in graphic design and I’d love to see him move out of her house sometime soon.

On the other hand. I grew up poor as hell, with a mother with bipolar disorder and a brother with autism. But I also live in suburban long island. With just that change I had so much at my disposal. I’d walk to the library with my brother at 11 years old and use their computers. I’d do that every day. It wasn’t because I thought to myself “Hey one day computers will save me from this life of poverty” it was “Boy do I love computers”. And never once did my mother ever sit me down to do my homework or give 2 turd flakes about my grades and so my grades were just slightly above average. The reason? I was having too much fun coding to care. And because I had to make my own money, I got manual labor jobs. So I spent a couple weeks learning G-code and now am pursuing a mechanical engineering degree. It pains me when I see my friends who can play guitar like gods, write compelling narratives, paint the concept of sadness, and I can’t help but look at the tv and wish they were hiring these people. You know what will happen to them? They will graduate from community college with liberal arts/business degrees and get jobs elsewhere and make less money then me. Why? Because their gifts are different then mine. I’m the dweeb who’s skills make me the perfect slave so that the children of the 1% can continue to never learning anything. The only people I’ve ever known to die of overdose were just bored rich kids.

Perhaps Sir, you should do research on how much better and better equipped technologically speaking schools in the middle and upper class school districts are….

Schools in inner city areas are often sub-standard. And it takes a caring guidance counselor to give a damn and help a child.

You really are an idealist aren’t you? Either that, or you’re incredibly blind…. There’s a reason that exceptional teachers make the news or have their stories made into movies when facing the challenges of inner city students…. And there’s a reason there’s only a handful of them…